Quick answers to common questions are found here. Can’t find what you are looking for? Submit your question via Ask DisplayPort to get an answer from one of our subject matter experts.
General VESA FAQs
Q: How do I order VESA Standards? How much are they?
A: Some VESA Standards are offered electronically in PDF format on the public VESA website for no charge. Download
Q: How do I obtain other VESA Standards, such as DisplayPort, which are not listed on the public VESA web site?
A: All VESA DisplayPort Standards are available only to VESA members, and they are downloaded in PDF format from the VESA member-only web pages.
Q: Other than having access to VESA Standards, what other benefits come with have a VESA Membership?
A: As a Standards organization, VESA is atypical in that all VESA members have equal access to all work groups, proposals, and draft specifications. VESA typically holds about ten different work group meetings per week, covering various VESA Standards, and typically has one or two PlugTests per year open to all members.
Q: How do I become a VESA member? What is the cost?
A: The membership application is on the website. Complete the application, having the financial portion signed by an authorized person, and mail, scan and email, or fax it to the VESA office. The fee structure is based on annual sales revenue as explained on the application.
Q: To join VESA, can I provide a PO number now and send payment later?
A: No, VESA cannot accept POs. Membership applications are processed when full payment has been received. Payment for standards or membership fees may be made by check, credit card or wire transfer.
Q: When I try to run my game in MS-DOS, I get the message ‘No VESA Drivers Found’. Can you send me a driver?
A: VESA does not provide drivers of any type. Contact the manufacturer of your system/game.
Q: I would like a list of products that were designed according to VESA Standards. Could you provide me with such a list?
A: Yes, VESA does maintain a list of consumer oriented DisplayPort certified products on the DisplayPort website. Developer DisplayPort certified products can be found here. Products certified to the DisplayHDR are here. AdaptiveSync/MediaSync here. ClearMR here.
Q: We are designing a 15 inch TFT monitor cabinet and wall mount bracket. Does VESA have a standard for the wall mount bracket hole?
A: Yes, the Flat Display Mounting Interface (FDMI) Standard contains the information you need. It is available for free download from the public VESA site. Download
Q: How do I get a Plug and Play ID?
A:
This is an industry registry of PNP ID and ACPI ID used in the _HID (Hardware ID), _CID (Compatibility ID) or _SUB (Subsystem ID) objects as described in the ACPI Specification for devices that do not have standard enumeration mechanism. All these devices must contain a _HID (and possibly _CID and _SUB as well) in order to allow the operating system to differentiate devices from one another so that it can load the appropriate driver software. Each device manufacturer is responsible for assigning the PNP ID or ACPI ID for each of these products.
Both PNP ID and ACPI ID consist of two parts: a Vendor ID, followed by a product identifier. Each manufacturer of these devices must be assigned an industry-unique Vendor ID (VID). Your company may already have a VID from previous work, such as EISA boards or other Plug and Play devices (PNP ISA cards, PNP serial devices, PNP monitors, and so on). If you do not have a VID, or do not know if you have one, the UEFI Forum can assign one for you as described on this page, or can verify an existing VID.
The format of VIDs varies depending on the form of the identifier:
PNP ID: PNP Vendor IDs consist of 3 characters, each character being an uppercase letter (A-Z).
ACPI ID: ACPI Vendor IDs consist of 4 characters, each character being either an uppercase letter (A-Z) or a numeral (0-9). Complete format requirements are defined in the ACPI Specification.
It is important to note that the use of PNP ID and ACPI ID are completely interchangeable for use with ACPI implementations. The ACPI ID form of VID was defined to enable a much bigger namespace for the ecosystem.
VIDs are subject to uniqueness requirements. Wherever UEFI Forum Specifications call for use of a VID, conforming implementations must use a VID that is listed in these registries as reserved for the company making the implementation content.
Some ID requests may not be available. For instance, Microsoft has reserved the VID “PNP” to identify various devices that do not have an existing EISA ID, as well as defining compatibility devices. These reserved compatibility IDs are defined in the file located here and at http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4cc9-843a-923143f3456c/devids.txt The ACPI Specification reserves the ACPI ID’s Vendor ID “ACPI” for use only with devices defined in that specification. Additionally, Vendor IDs consisting only of valid hexadecimal characters (0-9 and A-F) are reserved for assignment by the PCI SIG (these Vendor IDs must be registered with the PCI SIG but can still be used in ACPI implementations). Finally, it may simply be that the character string you request has previously been assigned to another company.
Product Identifiers are always four-character hexadecimal numbers (0-9 and A-F) concatenated to the VID allocated to the Device Manufacturer. This means there are a total of 8 characters for an ACPI Product Identifier: 4 characters for the VID combined with 4 for the specific device model itself. The Device Manufacturer is responsible for assigning this identifier to each individual product model. Once an identifier is assigned to a product model, it must not be assigned to any other product model manufactured by the same company (that is, that uses the same VID).
The registry aims to ensure fair, orderly, consistent and conflict free naming of the VIDs. Originally implemented by Microsoft, this registry is used to help companies avoid unnecessary collisions in implementation.
To register a new unique Vendor ID for ACPI ID Usage
Send a request to the ACPI Specification Workgroup Chairperson (vid_request@uefi.org with subject new vendor id request) requesting the new VID to be allocated to your organization. A request must include the preferred choice of 4-letter combination for the VID, the name of the organization to list as exclusive holder of VID and an email address for any follow up contact needs that may arise in maintaining the registry. Please note that requests on behalf of an organizational entity must originate from that entity (for example, do not submit a request from a non-organization email address).
All requests are subject to Work Group approval based on the objectives noted above.
The list of currently approved Vendor IDs for PNP ID and ACPI ID. Please note, due to the size of these lists, your internet browser may take a minute to for the page to load.
Sunset of Vendor IDs in PnP Form
Starting at the end of 2024, the UEFI Forum no longer issues new 3-letter Plug and Play (PnP) Vendor Identifiers (a “VID”). For ACPI implementation purposes, a 4-letter ACPI ID can be used for all situations where the ID is needed, for example in creating device identifiers. Applications for a new ID made after January 1st 2025 must request an ACPI ID from the available pool of 4-letter combinations that are, as noted above, a) conforming to ACPI Specification limitations on letter combinations and b) not already allocated to another company.
PnP VIDs that have already been allocated and that continue to be listed in the registry hosted on this website may still be used in ACPI implementations. Software reading and interpreting IDs is required to maintain compatibility with the use of existing PnP VIDs.
Beyond the scope of ACPI Implementations, PnP VIDs have also been used to populate VESA EDID record company identifier fields. The VESA and CTA organizations have defined alternative means to identify the creator of devices that would otherwise have used a PnP VID for this purpose in the past. To facilitate this transition, the UEFI Forum has defined and reserved to these organizations the PnP VID “CID”. In conjunction with the newly defined VESA and CTA structures, this “CID” value may be used in all EDID records as best practice in place of a unique company specific PnP VID. More information about how to use “CID” in EDID records in combination with an IEEE CID or OUI located in a Product Information Data Block is presented in the CTA specification material listed below. More information about how to use “CID” in EDID records in combination with an IEEE CID or OUI located in a DisplayID Product Identification Data Block is presented in the VESA specification material listed below.
Companies that already have a PnP VID listed in the registry can choose either to continue using that or follow the approach of using “CID” combined with an IEEE CID or OUI. Companies that do not have a PnP VID listed in the registry must use the “CID” value for EDID record purposes combined with an IEEE CID or OUI.
Please refer to the following locations for more information on making VESA/CTA compliant devices without the need for a 3-letter PnP VID:
Section 7.5.20 “Product Information Data Block (PIDB)” in:
ANSI/CTA-861-I (2023-02), “A DTV Profile for Uncompressed High Speed Digital Interfaces” + Amendment CTA-861.7 (2024-06), “Improvements to CTA-861-I”
Available at: https://shop.cta.tech/
Section 4.1 “Product Identification Data Block” in: VESA DisplayID Standard, Version 2.1a
Available at: Here